The largest Buddhist temple in the world is located in central Java, Indonesia. Borobudur temple was built in the ninth century and still stands today although it has been picked away at by thieves looters and junior high school students. Many of the buddha statues have been defaced, their heads taken off. Although there is much damage to the structure, it is an amazing sight to behold. I spend two hours taking pictures and meeting the locals. There were many school students there and it reminded me of my own high school trip to the statue of liberty. The kids had seen this monument many times before and were more concerned with socializing.
At the top of the temple are many bell statues with buddha figures inside of them. I'm not Buddhist so I'm not sure of the significance but it was pretty cool to see. I ended up sitting on the edges of the large stone bells along with the rest of the tourists but something tells me I should have shown more respect.
This man was selling traditional puppets in the park leading up to Borobudur temple. These puppets are used for puppet shows and are crafted of wood or buffalo skin and painted with bright colors. Initially I thought they were hindu puppets, but one of the craftsmen at a shop in Solo explained to me they are not deities but rather representations of human ideals such as creativity, wisdom, love, protection, etc. I didn't buy any of the puppets because frankly they are very strange.
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